


high as a cloud.

by jhvce



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Drug Use, Happy New Year!!, Highschool AU, M/M, Underage Drinking, because idk i guess, just wanted to show what happened when they woke up??, now with added bonus chap!!, this is so late i kno
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 17:46:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3076976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jhvce/pseuds/jhvce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico hates parties.</p>
            </blockquote>





	high as a cloud.

**Author's Note:**

> i literally typed this as fast as i could,, I WASNT PLANNING ON THIS BEING MY FANFICY DEBUT BUT HERE IT IS!!!! NEW YEAR PARTY FIC!!!!  
> ha ha idek this is so fricking late i knowwww  
> i am terribly sorry tho if this seems rushed or ooc im new at this writing thig  
> anyway,,  
> regular warnings:: underage drinking, cussing and swearing, some slurring of words, and drug use but hey what can i do 
> 
> please enjoy, and comment as much as you want i dont rlly care ~jade

Nico hates parties.

He hates the dark room and the bright strobe lights, loud music thudding bass through speakers; the smell of alcohol and vomit and sweat flying through the air; how everyone is chest to chest, dancing without a fucking care, Percy Jackson grinding against his girlfriend, Annabeth Chase, his fingers tangling through her blonde hair and now they’re making out, tongue and all.

Nico looks away and scowls. He could’ve been at home enjoying his self-pity instead of forcing to watch teenagers get wasted and high and trashed. But instead he’s here.

He’s leaning against some wall, untouched drink in his hand, on his right some couple is making out, and on his left someone's throwing up in a potted plant. He's contemplating the thought of leaving, Hazel's voice flowing through his head, all 'it could be fun' she said, 'before the year ends' Jason said, when a loud horn sounds right beside his ear breaks all of these thoughts.

Nico snaps. He doesn’t even have to be surprised.

"C’mon man, not feeling the new year spirit?" Leo Valdez himself. He’s wearing a party hat on top of his brown curly hair, blow horn in one hand, in the other his cup, grin etched into his face. As usual, Leo's the life of the party, but it irritates Nico, how happy he is. It’s not like he hates Leo, he and Leo are good friends, best friends actually. They’ve been through a lot together, plus Leo is Nico's only gay (well, bi) friend.

But since Nico's not really in the friendly mood at the moment, he all but sighs, maybe a little _too_ dramatically with his eye roll or something, because now Leo's arm is around his shoulder and- cringe- Nico can smell the alcohol in his breath when he's telling him, "Nico, bro, you gotta live in the moment" and then proceeds to drink the rest of whatever's in his cup.

Nico wants to punch him. A good sock to the face in annoyance.

He tries to push Leo off him, "I’m not interested.” He fails though when Leo pulls him closer and oh god, it’s a one-armed hug now. Nico tries to not be too irked by this, being pushed against his chest, Leo resting his chin on his head, but his yearning to walk home is increasing.

"At least try to dance, man. You’re spoiling the party." Leo tells him, swaying them a bit. Nico shakes his head vehemently. Tries very hard to not focus on Leo's voice, which is getting a bit breathy.

Leo sighs, his one-armed hug on Nico loosening a bit, and Nico thinks he might have a chance to escape.

But then Leo takes his cup, downs whatever drink was in it that Nico didn’t drink, shakes his head then begins to drag Nico to where the drinks were being held out. Nico thrashes against Leo's hold screaming bloody murder but Leo's unfazed response is just, "you need a better drink, you need a better drink" and they’re bumping into sweaty bodies. Nico's cringing again but he's starting to give in to Leo's hold, not giving a shit anymore.

Nico thinks that when the New Year comes that’s how he's starting it. Not giving a shit.

"Here, it’s better than the shit you were holding earlier." Leo says forcing a shot glass into Nico's hand. Nico _really_ doesn’t want to drink whatever it is but Leo's looking at him pleadingly, his bottom lip jutted out and Nico's sighing for the second time of the night.

Taking the glass and drinking it in one go a burning sensation falls down his throat. He can hear Leo's whooping cheers but Nico doesn’t give a shit anymore. Even so, Leo's pouring him another shot and Nico's deciding that this might not be a good idea.

He’s thinking of telling Leo this when Jason strides up, his face flush and everything, Piper hanging off his shoulder, all smiles because she's the happy type of drunk.

"Hey guys," Jason’s saying. He’s glancing at Nico's shot glass and a grin forms on his face. "Glad you’re finally enjoying yourself, man." Nico just shrugs, loss of a comeback because the drink is finally kicking in. Whatever.

"It took some convincing from yours truly," he hears Leo say and he can’t help but roll his eyes at this.

Jason’s grin doesn’t waver. "We’ll be starting a couple of games soon," he says. "You should join us." Piper's nodding like Jason had said something meaningful but all Nico can think of now are the ways he can get home.

"Dude how many drinks has Piper had?" asks Leo, a little worry appearing on his face.

"Just a few," slurs Piper. She laughs after, like she just said the funniest joke ever. Nico faintly wonders if he's like that when he's drunk, because he wouldn’t know. But then again, the only person who _has_ seen him drunk was Leo, and _that_ was last month. Nico curses, not letting his thoughts go down that road.

Jason waves his hand sluggishly, "She'll be fine, don’t worry too much." he says. But Leo's worry doesn’t disappear and he's looking at Jason now.

Jason sighs and puts a hand on Leo's shoulder, looking at him in the eye and tells him solemnly almost like he's sober, "Everything is gonna be fine, okay?" Leo just nods.

Jason's telling him again that he should join their games or whatever Nico doesn’t really know anymore because all he's focusing on is the look on Leo's face.

Jason and Piper leave and Leo sighs. He turns back to Nico with a smile though, saying "Looks like I can’t be drinkin' as much anymore if no one's designated driver," then chuckles as if it’s funny. Is it funny? Nico wonders. Leo still looks pained when he laughs.

Leo grabs a bottle of water from the chiller, his smile not disappearing. Pained smile.

Screw it.

Nico gathers up a breath before asking, "So, do you want to join whatever game they’re playing?" He regrets it already as an actual grin forms on Leo's face and now he's being dragged again, but he's not protesting as much.

 

* * *

 

Its spin the bottle.

Almost everyone Nico knows of from his high school is in a circle. Nico wants to die but can’t because he’s doing this- this trying to have fun thing- for Leo because he wants to be a good friend.

Leo, who's sitting right beside him, spinning the bottle because it’s his turn or whatever. Nico just wants another drink.

" _Ooooooh_ " everyone cat calls when the bottle points to Piper. Jason’s laughing though like he's fine with it. He probably is. Piper bats her eyes and puckers her lips at Leo and Leo winks at her before kissing her. On the cheek though.

" _Booooo_ "s and " _lame_ "s come from the crowd but all Leo does his raise his hands in defense.

So far in the game, a lot of kissing has happened and Nico was forced to watch all of it, not having any fun. Annabeth had to kiss Reyna and Calypso had to kiss Jason (she had broken up with Leo a few weeks back so when this happened Nico eyed his best friend carefully), Octavian had to kiss Clarisse who punched his face in afterwards (okay so maybe Nico laughed at that, Octavian deserved it anyhow), Leo had to kiss a few boys and Percy had yet to kiss anyone.

Not that Nico was getting his hopes up or anything.

Nico on the other hand had to kiss only two people during the game, Hazel (whom he only kissed on the forehead because he loves his sister too much) and Pollux (after their make out session he took another shot). But if the bottle lands on Percy...

He curses when it’s his turn, telling himself he had gotten over Percy a month ago. His hands are shaking but he manages to spin the bottle. Agonizingly waiting for it to stop, his breath hitches a bit. It almost stopped at Will (he was close with Will so he'd be fine kissing him) but then the bottle moves a little bit to the right and it’s pointed at _him_.

He hears Leo take a sharp breath. He sees Percy smirk at him. He hears a couple of cheering and a couple of grumbling. He sees Percy getting closer to him. He hears his accelerating heartbeat in his ears. He remembers a month ago when they were in the same exact position. He wants to throw up. He wants to throw up.

"I-I need to puke," excuses Nico. He runs out of the room, finds the nearest bathroom and dry heaves into the toilet. He feels terrible. Awful.

Nico registers the sound of faint footsteps echoing in the hall over his pounding head. He wipes his mouth pathetically and looks up to see Leo watching him from the door. Pity in his look directed at Nico. Shit. He feels like shit.

He offers Nico his water and Nico drinks all of it. Leo sits beside Nico on the floor. A few tears are spilling down Nico's face and he's sobbing and Leo hugs him and now he's sobbing into his shirt. Pathetic. Leo's rubbing his back and asking Nico if he's still not over it and Nico's nodding. Shit, _shit_.

When Nico's calmed down a bit he whispers, "I need to get out of here."

And Leo's faint answer is, "I’ve got a couple of coupons for McDonalds."

That’s all Nico needs to hear. They rush out of the bathroom and out of the house, not caring if they bumped into a dozen people. Their friends don’t even notice them leaving.

 

* * *

 

It’s a nice feeling.

The feeling of new years and new beginnings and having a friend- a best friend who can drive you in their pickup truck to a McDonalds and use their coupons, and the weather's nice, and you’re a little tipsy, and the stars aren’t millions of light-years away but right beside you, and you’re driving away from a party you didn’t want to go to in the first place, and away from Percy Jackson, and away from a month ago and that night when Percy called you a whore and a faggot. It’s nice really being able to go to your best friend’s house that same night and brawl your eyes out and get wasted and not having to think about green eyes and sex and girlfriends.

It’s such a nice feeling. Nico feels all of this, feels _so_ _nice_ tonight.

Leo's parking his truck in the parking lot of McDonalds because he doesn’t want to drive all the way back to the party. The duo move to the backseat and eat their 10 piece chicken nuggets and fries and just talk. It’s nice.

"Glad to see your feeling better," says Leo. Nico gives an almost smile.

"Yeah, m'sorry you can’t be designated driver for anyone at the party anymore," even if Nico said is sheepishly he really means his apology.

Leo shakes his head. "It is _exactly_ my job as designated driver to drive people _out_ of the party," Leo defends. "Plus, I don’t like seeing you be miserable back there."

It’s nice. So nice.

Nico really smiles this time. And Leo smiles back.

" _And_ ," Leo continues "since we're not at the party anymore," Leo takes out a toolbox from beneath the driver’s seat and opens it up to reveal a few bottles of alcohol and what looks to be...

"Is that weed?" Nico asks, eyeing the leaves in the toolbox. Leo nods and grabs the leaves and a bottle of tequila.

"Want to?" he asks. Nico nods like _heck yes, yes he wants to get high so fucking badly, make me forget this day, make me forget this year_.

Pretty soon, Leo's lighting a blunt for Nico and Nico accepts it graciously. He smokes it while Leo drinks. Nico coughed a little at first but he could already feel the hit and suddenly _oh_ \- he's smiling like heck and his heart is in his ear, or so it feels like it. And Leo notices this and smiles too because he might be a little tipsy already.

"'ey," Leo drawls out. "you should smile more, it’s nice on you." And Nico's blushing but giggling- holy fuck he's _giggling_ , like some fucking sappy _school girl_ but he's so happy. He doesn’t say anything, probably to save himself from saying something stupid. Instead he steals Leo's tequila- ignoring Leo's "hey!" and drinks from the bottle anyway.

"Not fair man" Leo's pouting. Nico laughs because Leo looks like a kid. And also because Nico wants to kiss that pout. He doesn’t though; he's not _too_ high to know how stupid that would be. And- shit Leo stole his blunt. Now Nico shouts "hey!" and Leo ignores it, smokes from Nico's blunt, right into Nico's face and marijuana is stinking up Leo's truck and Nico thinks it’s just hot.

Everything right now is just. _Right_.

The world tumbles as Nico's swaying too much and he leans into Leo, bumping his head against his chest. Leo's laugh is in his ears and it’s the greatest sound ever.

"You okay thar?" Leo asks. Nico hasn’t stopped grinning and he’s biting his lip and telling Leo in words that stumble out his mouth, "I feel like I’m melting into you" because that’s how it really feels being pressed up against Leo's chest. Maybe it’s because he's drunk and high and probably in love but also maybe trying to forget and Leo makes him forget. So he leans into Leo some more.

He feels giddy when Leo murmurs, "you know how fucking cheesy that sounds?" but Leo's fingers are in his hair like he doesn’t want to let Nico go. Nico thinks this probably because Leo is drunk and high too. That’s nice.

Nico buries his face in Leo's chest or shoulder or where ever his head is. Nico's mind is quite hazy so he can’t tell. But he does feel his face flush when Leo's hand is on his face. And, oh he's giving him back his blunt.

Nico takes another hit.

Fucking amazing.

"Y'know," Nico's whispering, "since you already put your lips on this it’s like we indirectly kissed." _shit_ he can’t control his mouth _dammit, dammit_. Nico laughs at himself because he's pathetic and Leo being silent scares him.

But then, Leo rubs his back and sluggishly says, "Shouldn't have done that," he checks the watch on his hand which takes a couple of seconds to process in Leo's mind, "Its not midnight yet."

Nico's breath hitches.

He swallows but his throat feels dry. And the truck smells like marijuana. And Leo's brown eyes are staring into Nico's own. And Nico's melting into Leo so fucking much. But all Nico says is, "Oh no please don’t do this New Year midnight kiss thing, it’s really corny Leo because I swear to god-"

And Leo kisses him.

It’s soft and sweet and it’s quick like just a brush of lips and _oh god oh god_ Nico's having a panic attack in his head. But Leo's just smiling and whispering, "there. I kissed you twenty seconds before midnight," Leo's breath smells like tequila and weed, "Not too corny now, is it?"

So Nico counts to twenty in his head and during this Nico is thinking about everything- how Leo's always been there for him, how he loves hearing Leo laugh, how he hates how much Leo cares and how he loves how much Leo cares, and Leo's eyes and pointy ears and hair and skin that makes him stand out in a crowd, and how last month Leo let him get wasted and let him cry on his shoulder like he always does, and how Leo knows all his secrets and favorite authors and movies and ice cream flavors, and how Leo's kiss feels so _so_ much better than Percy fucking Jackson’s kisses and fuck it- he thinks of all of this.

And then Nico kisses Leo.

This time though it’s rough, Nico grabbing Leo's collar and Leo's hands tightening in his hair and if it wasn’t for him being high he wouldn’t have moaned as loud as he did.

There are fireworks sounding outside and there’s probably fireworks inside his head and he can literally hear people cheering for the new year but all Nico can focus on is the amazing as heck feel of Leo's lips against his. Leo bites his lip a little leaving him breathless when he pulls away.

"Happy new year, Nico," whispers Leo.

Maybe it’s the weed or the tequila, but Nico's smiling like he just won the world. In some way, he has.

So for the rest of the new year day the two make out in Leo's pickup truck that smells like marijuana and the two drink a little more and smoke a little more until they reach a point where they can’t drink or smoke anymore and they’re passing out while the people at the party they left at are getting even more trashed than they are because the new year is here.

It’s here, and it’s nice. And Nico feels happy. And before he loses all consciousness, he thinks this is such a great way to start the year.

 

* * *

 

When Nico wakes up the next few hours later he wants to scream and pull out his hair. His head is pounding like someone is banging cymbals right next to his ear and it takes him a while to open his eyes.

When he does its bright. It takes Nico some time to readjust to the sunlight and he realizes he’s still in Leo’s truck and-

Oh. His head is on Leo’s chest.

Nico faintly wonders how much had happened last night. All Nico can really remember is being really happy that the New Year started. And that’s stupid because Nico hates change. Maybe a big change happened last night.

And why is his head on Leo’s chest and why are they in a cuddling position- Nico di Angelo does not cuddle, what the fuck happened last night.


End file.
